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Marketplace AM for June 20, 2007

Robert Reich has a suggestion for the 2008 presidential candidates: Forget the carbon tax. Forget the cap-and-trade system. If you want to clean up the atmosphere and win votes, the carbon auction is the idea to get behind.

Even as big private equity firms suffer serious public image problems, some investment groups that buy up small to mid-sized businesses say they consider those companies to be partners, not resources to pillage. Bob Moon reports.

Profits are soaring at private equity firms around the globe, but as more and more jobs are cut and news of their substantial tax advantage makes headlines, private equity's popularity keeps sinking further into the mud. Stephen Beard has details.

Rupert Murdoch is reportedly offering to make an old-fashioned swap. He'll give away MySpace for a 25 percent stake in Yahoo. It's about making moolah, says Dan Sabbagh who broke the story for the also News Corp-owned Times of London.

The crisis in the subprime mortgage market continues to take its toll on Wall Street. Merrill Lynch will sell off the assets of two hedge funds that relied on subprime loans that are now going south. Amy Scott reports.

The EPA today is expected to release more stringent ozone standards in an effort to improve public health problems such as asthma, but some businesses are crying foul since we haven't even met the existing standard. Rachel Dornhelm reports.

A study released yesterday says most parents would support a federal crackdown on TV sex and violence. Pressure's building for Congress to act, but TV companies say censorship should be left to individuals and the marketplace. Jill Barshay reports.

A lot of misinformation about immigration reform has trickled down to the folks living and working here illegally, and con artists have wasted no time taking advantage of the situation. Dan Grech explains.